Interior Fitted Panels
Fitted panels are panels designed to completely conceal any interstitial structural elements and appear as a continuous surface with minimally visible seams. To accommodate the difference in spacing at corners, two panel widths must be employed; 1025mm at corners and 1050mm in-line. Corner width panels are also used at the end of a partition wall terminated with a Secondary stud or decorative cover plate or post. They are used in conjunction with recessed Secondary structural members, resting flush within Primary framing and with Secondary studs optionally employing spacers of some kind to support thinner panels. Most of the attachment methods have some similarity to those of flush panels. As with flush panels, the simplest attachment method for fitted panels is simple friction, the panels set to rest against angle strips. However, this relies more heavily on the tightness of fit between upper and lower frame members and is not as well suited to panels less than 50mm thick. Reinforcement is optionally provided with vertical 10x2420mm battens set in panel slots when panels are used in series. As with their flush panel equivalents, Friction improving gaskets fitted in perimeter slots can also be used, usually top and bottom and on one side rather than all four sides Fitted panels can also be pop-in panels, using a 10mm upper and lower flange or being based on a very thin 10x2420mm panel. These are used just as with their flush panel counterparts except for the difference in panel widths. For partitions they usually employ a decorative end post friction-fit over terminal or corner panels. They also employ some kind of intermediate batten, usually very thin as they are limited to about 20mm thickness. As with their flush forms, they may also use a floor and ceiling finishing strips with thin friction-fit slot tabs to conceal the bare frame members, since they are usually not fully-flush to the frame edge. A variation on the wedge batten locking scheme used with flush panels is also usable with fitted panels, vertical battens locking the panels side to side independent of a Secondary frame member. However, at least one panel in a series -usually at a corner- must employ bowed spring batten locks or rely on friction alone to hold their positions, possibly with an elastic gasket in a side slot. Used with partition walls, the batten locking can be employed to a terminal edge or corner, which is fit with a decorative post that locks by friction over the end panel battens and conceals them and can optionally be locked in place with a flush T-nut in the floor and ceiling frame grooves. Fitted panels can also attach with through-panel countersunk or covered screw to angle mounts/strips, a tapped cast corner lock block set in the upper and lower inner-edge profile slots, vertical tapped batten strips, or 25mm series 50mm profile studs. For thinner panels, a spacer is placed along the recessed Secondary frame and usually dark colored to reduce the appearance of any residual seams. This approach is suited to many materials and panel compositions. For partitions, the through-hole attachment uses matched finished tapped pins instead of simple nuts. The same edge plates or corner posts are used for partition walls. The same bowed batten spring lock mechanism of flush panels can also be used with fitted panels. The difference is that intermediate panels will lock to each other’s edge grooves rather than a Secondary frame member. Either only one panel edge will be fitted with these or they will be fitted in alternating series. This relies greatly on the integral panel rigidity. Edge plates and corner posts for partitions are held by friction using conventional press-fit battens on the terminal panel edges. Fitted panels may also be fashioned with a cosmetic concealment frame which conceals a through-bolt attachment to angles or tapped battens. Vertical attachment between panels employs interleaved flanges that allow the adjacent panels to connect to the same center frame member profile slot. Cosmetic frames are press-fit and may be designed to appear as a single joined casement grid with spacing only large enough to allow for the intermediate through-bolts or as individual casement frames. Fitted Panel Series *Composite Fitted Panels *Fabric Fitted panels